Dérive

“My beloved wife, I’m writing these words not knowing whether they will reach you, when they will reach you, and whether I shall still be alive when you read them. Dead or alive, free or imprisoned by the colonialists, it’s not I who matter: it’s the Congo. It’s the poor people whose independence has been turned into a cage.” So wrote Patrice Lumumba from his prison cell in December of 1960. Only a few months earlier, Belgium had announced an end to colonial rule over what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Lumumba became the country’s first democratically-elected prime minister. But his days were numbered. Within a year, this inspiring mind would be dead, assassinated by his political rivals in direct collaboration with Belgium and the United States. --- Patrice Lumumba was born Élias Okit'Asombo on July 2, 1925, in Katakokombe, Belgian Congo. His parents were farmers, and he worked a variety of jobs - including mail carrier and beer salesm...